16. His Oval Office Desk Paperweight Was A Coconut Husk Into Which He Scratched His Rescue Message While Stranded During World War II
Kennedy commandeered the PT-109 gunboat during World War II - and both he and his crew became stranded on the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific after being hit by a Japanese destroyer. In order to call for help, JFK carved a message into a coconut shell and gave it to two Solomon natives to hand deliver it to the US base on Rendova Island. Later tracking down the coconut shell, he had it encased in wood and plastic and used it as his paperweight on his desk in the Oval Office. Interestingly, the coconut-shell message read: "NAURO ISL... COMMANDER... NATIVE KNOWS POS'IT... HE CAN PILOT... 11 ALIVE... NEED SMALL BOAT... KENNEDY."
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.